


Falling Back Together

by sstarrymorningss



Category: Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: Canon Compliant, F/M, betty telling jughead about her brief stint as a cam girl, episode 02x12 fix-it fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-27
Updated: 2018-12-27
Packaged: 2019-09-28 21:29:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,915
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17190659
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sstarrymorningss/pseuds/sstarrymorningss
Summary: “Betty,” he whispered again, the slight lilt of the final syllable causing her to withdraw her lips from his just the bare minimum. Her forehead rested against his, eyes meeting once more as his hand ran up and down her spine. “Can I ask you something?”She nodded without hesitation, ready to be bare and exposed to him in every way. Their time apart had only shown her how much she longed to be close to him. How much she wished that she could melt into his embrace and watch as the rest of the world faded away. His nose brushed against hers gently, causing his lips to ghost against hers as he said the last thing she would expect.“Show me your scars.”





	Falling Back Together

**Author's Note:**

> Hello lovely readers! Long time no see. My short break from writing ended up being not-so-short but after a solid six months I am back. I really hope you all enjoy this. It's my second attempt at a filler fic of sorts in which I actually adhere to canon so please let me know what you think, Happy reading!
> 
> (Also, big thanks to Jenna (@/allskynostars) for reading over this and fixing my weird spelling, as well as Sim (@/wonderrful) for listening to my weird non-sensical rambling while I was writing this <3)

The early hours of the morning found them horizontal, wrapped around each other and covered by a single sheet. Their hands never stopped moving, exploring the bare expanses of skin, committing them to memory with a desperation that only distance can create. Her lips travelled across his face, tracing the freckled constellations more beautiful than those scattered across the night sky. Her fingers danced across his back, eliminating the space between the two as she pulled him closer, closer, until he finally looked up at her.

 

“Betty.” The word was a mere whisper, wrapped around a single breath, but the weight of it as he looked up into her eyes with that lovestruck smile made her stomach flutter. Her lips tugged upwards involuntarily as she tilted her head forward the smallest amount to bring their lips together. 

 

“Jughead Jones,” she murmured into the kiss. Their smiles stopped them from kissing properly but that’s not what this was about. After too long apart all that they wanted to do was be together. Occupying the same space, sharing the same breath, connecting in every way they knew how. 

 

“Betty,” he whispered again, the slight lilt of the final syllable causing her to withdraw her lips from his just the bare minimum. Her forehead rested against his, eyes meeting once more as his hand ran up and down her spine. “Can I ask you something?”

 

She nodded without hesitation, ready to be bare and exposed to him in every way. Their time apart had only shown her how much she longed to be close to him. How much she wished that she could melt into his embrace and watch as the rest of the world faded away. His nose brushed against hers gently, causing his lips to ghost against hers as he said the last thing she would expect.

 

_ “Show me your scars.” _

 

Her breath got caught in her throat and her hand froze where it had been resting against his cheek. Her eyes closed momentarily, squeezing shut as she reminded herself who she was with. Nothing bad would happen while she was with him, he wouldn’t hurt her in the way others would when they saw the marks on her palms and realised what they meant. 

 

Her fingers traced their way from the beauty spot on his cheek, slowly making their way to run over his lips. He placed the softest kiss against the pads of her fingers, closing his eyes in a way that reminded her of that night at Pop’s. The night when he’d found the evidence of the darkness inside of her and pulled her closer instead of running in the other direction.

 

“Why?” That single word was trapped against her fingers but she knew he heard her. His eyes opened and he moved his lips from her fingers, bringing both hands up to cradle her face. His thumbs moved gently, gently, over her cheeks as he looked into those wide green eyes. He could see her fears creeping around the edges, the mantras repeated over and over by her parents, the ones she knew held little truth but couldn’t help adhering to. He could feel the vulnerability as he drew it out through his fingers, hoping that he could drain her of it so she wouldn’t feel this pain anymore. 

 

_ “I need to see how many times you needed me and I wasn’t there.” _

 

Her breath caught in her throat as his thumbs kept sweeping over her cheeks, now collecting the tears that were starting to fall, making her eyes seem impossibly large as she continued to look at him. She slowly took her hands away from where they’d been resting against his chest. He pulled his hands away from her face and reached down to grab her own, holding them carefully, as if they were something precious. 

 

She would never understand him. Understand how he could look at this treacherous part of her and see anything but pain and anger. How he could see those crescent shaped scars, the ones that had become red and aggravated over the last few weeks, and feel like any part of it was his fault. How he could be so impossibly gentle with a part of her that felt cold and jagged around the edges.

 

Her gaze fell to her hands as she slowly turned them over, letting him see the agony she had inflicted on herself. Her eyes shut tightly, not wanting to see the hurt on his face that accompanied the sharp intake of breath from the boy holding her darkest secret in his hands. She took a deep breath before letting herself open them again, looking up in time to see a tear fall down his cheek, landing silently where their hands were joined between them. 

 

He leant his head forward and placed his lips against the first of the scars, the crown of his head resting against her chest as he placed kiss after kiss on each crescented indent, refusing to stop until he had drawn the grief and torment from her palms and diffused it with his touch. 

 

“You are so strong, Betty. You have to be the strongest person I know.” His words were whispered into her palms and they sent a shiver up her spine, taking her back to that afternoon in the Blue and Gold when Jughead had managed to soothe her hysterics with words so similar. His forehead was still resting on her chest so she leant down and pressed her lips into his hair, wanting to give him the comfort that he had always been able to give her. 

 

“Jughead, I … I need to tell you something.” He pulled his lips from her scars and leant back up so his head could join hers on the pillow. The fear had crept back into her eyes and he gave her hands a light squeeze to get her to continue. 

 

“I tried to tell you earlier but you were looking up at me with … with this look and I couldn’t tell you then. I just … I couldn’t do it.” Her voice was cracking and the tears coming to her eyes were there for a very different reason than those that had been falling only a handful of moments ago. Her hands slipped from his as she pulled them up to cover her face, not wanting to see the hurt in his expression when she told him what she had been doing since they’d last been together.

 

“Betty, whatever it is you can tell me, okay? You’re not getting rid of me that easy.” She could tell he was trying to make light of the situation but there was an undertone of weariness that coated his words. The tears kept streaming down her cheeks as she took deep gulping breaths between her sobs. He bundled her up and held her firmly in his arms, sweeping his hand up and down the length of her bare back while she shook against him. 

 

“Please baby. You’re scaring me.” His hands didn’t stop moving, up and down, up and down, enough of a constant to draw Betty out of her head and pull her from her hysterics. 

 

“I did something bad.” Her words soaked into his skin, falling from where her lips brushed against his collarbone. “Chic …” Jughead let out a short exhale at the name, never liking where things end up when Chic was involved, “Chic has the same darkness as I do but he has …  _ different _ ways of harnessing it.” Betty’s voice was shaky and uncertain, whispered through tears. Jughead reached one hand around to hold her hand tight, squeezing it slightly in what he hoped would be encouraging as his other hand kept sweeping up and down her back. 

 

“He showed me how he controls it and I gave it a go but it was only a couple of times and nothing ever happened. I just wanted to see what it was like and feel like I had power in some aspect of my life because everything,  _ everything  _ was falling apart.” Her sobs were getting louder and Jughead started trailing kisses across her shoulder, moving up her neck until he reached her forehead where he held the kiss a beat longer.

 

“What did you do, Betty?” He tried to make his words as soft as possible, taking all of the harshness and pushing the concern deep down, wanting her to finish her confession without scaring her off. 

 

“I … I talked to people on the internet for … Jug, I can’t say it.” The sobs had stopped but Jughead could feel her tears still falling as she burrowed further into his shoulder, hiding her face to avoid his gaze. She didn’t want to know what he was thinking, didn’t want to see his reaction. He wrapped his arms around her and held her tightly against him. 

 

“It’s okay, baby. It’s okay.” It took several long minutes of ragged breaths and whispered promises for Betty to finally pull her head from his shoulder. She pulled herself slightly from his arms and laid her head on the edge of his pillow, their noses brushing as they passed a breath between them. He reached one hand up to wipe the tears from her cheeks. Her eyes closed as he gently swiped at her damp skin and she only opened them when she felt his fingers slowly start to tangle the knots out of her hair. 

 

“You’re really okay with what I did?” Her eyes were wide, the fear of being pushed away once again written all over her face. He leant forward slightly, tilting his head up to stamp his lips against her forehead before pulling back again. 

 

“I mean, I’m not thrilled with it but I understand why you did it.” He could see her shoulders visibly relax at his words, her jaw unclenching as the tension fell away from her. Her eyes closed once more as she shuffled closer to him, eliminating the space between them as she tucked her head underneath his chin. He rolled them slightly so he could lie on his back, pulling her on top of him. She nuzzled into his chest, feeling truly known in a way that she hadn’t in a very long time. 

 

“Are you … have you stopped?” The timidness of his question had Betty shooting upright.

 

“Jug,” she started, one hand reaching down to cup his face as the other stopped her from falling onto him, “of course.” The smile that she received in response was almost worth the torment that she’d suffered the last few weeks without him. It was that special one that he reserved just for her where the corners of his mouth tilted up just the slightest amount and his eyes went all soft. She melted at the sight, leaning down to kiss him properly.

 

Her fingers tangled through his hair, no longer ruled by her mind as she lost herself in him completely. His hands cupped her jaw as he sat up slowly, letting her wrap her legs around his waist and hook her feet behind him. His hands moved down, down, exploring the expanses of her back and pulling her ever closer, no longer able to stand the millimetres of space between them. The sheet lay abandoned at the end of the bed as they fell into each other for the second time that night, vulnerability coating the air as they gave all of themselves to each other. 

**Author's Note:**

> Congrats for making it to the end! Please let me know what you thoughts, reading your comments is always a nice reward for actually finishing a piece.


End file.
